Events get driven by something. The motive power behind what happens in policy and politics can often lie hidden like the mass of an iceberg underneath the sea. Those who bother wondering why President Obama refuses to compromise on anything in order to avoid the “Fiscal Cliff” theorize two primary things. Barack Obama plays the PR angle to make Rethuglicans appear as the political subsumed class* of lackeys to the E-Vil Rich. Others assume he’s Richard Roundtree** and he’s sticking it to the man.

Both of these conjectures see only the tip of the iceberg. There are two possible errors in assuming either explains our President’s behavior in total. The first mistake is to assume that Barack Obama completely drives this train. The second is to assume that he reacts totally based on his ideological battles against Conservatism. Assuming a bond fealty between Barack Obama and his committed core of followers causes me to realize that President Obama (and much of the rest of the professional left in America) has strapped himself in for a ride on the tiger. He’s driving the bus from the movie “Speed.”

Last week Erick wrote about the Congressional race between Steve Cohen (D, TN) and challenger Nikki Tinker for the Democratic seat in Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District. I wondered why Barack Obama had not come out to denounce the racist attacks that Tinker was unleashing on a fellow Democrat.Of course, the reason Obama didn’t attack Tinker for her racist attacks was because she was a black | Read More »